StarCraft 2 had undoubtedly stood out as the best, or rather, the most played RTS of all time. That was, perhaps, due to the application of right marketing by Blizzard, or mechanics that do not exist in any other strategy game? Maybe due to a wide variety of different reasons why StarCraft 2 stood out from the rest of the RTS generation on games, and Blizzard is back with more announcements to put back life into one of its least played games, with a twist no one dislikes – StarCraft 2 is going free-to-play later this month.
StarCraft 2 has no doubt been one of the worst performing assets of Blizzard Entertainment for a long time, shortly trailing behind Heroes of the Storm. The decline in the RTS generation itself marked the decline of the community, though the playerbase remained above average for a “so-called RTS game”. Going free-to-play is the only way to blow some life into a dying game, a game which no one considers a game worth buying any more.
Mind it, StarCraft 2’s ranked ladder is free, and also the first part of the story for anyone who wants to experience it, which is what more than what 90% of the players seek in the game at large. The first part of the story is free, and in order to experience certain additional features, primarily being the second and third parts of the story, people still need to shell out cash, but the multiplayer ranked ladder is free, which means any changes done after the expansions to the races in each patch will appear for both free-to-play users and the people who bought it earlier.
The term “free” of course is luring, so that does pull in quite a crowd, but beside that, there isn’t a reason why people should purchase the expansions. This is a good effort to revive a dying generation of games, but the move shows the cracks in the so-called dead generation – RTS is a thing of the past now. The premier game leading the strategy industry through its innovative features going free-to-play only proves casual players right, who would rather play an RPG or an FPS.
